Fergie would blast us with the hairdryer but I preferred that to two-faced Alex McLeish or the silent treatment from Dick Advocaat when I was at Gers
RANGERS Kanchelskis raps ex-gaffers and dressing-room divide
ANdReI KANCHeLSKIS still remembers feeling the full force of Sir Alex Ferguson’s hairdryer in the Manchester united dressing room as the dust settled on a bad result. Eyeball to eyeball, the greatest gaffer Scotland has produced had no trouble letting loose if he felt a performance had been lacking. Fast forward a decade and Kanchelskis recalls the silence in Dick Advocaat’s Rangers dressing room in the wake of defeat. Instead the boss dubbed “The Little General” let his actions do the talking, dropping without warning players he felt had not done enough to justify a jersey. Kanchelskis was in Glasgow last weekend for the first time in 15 years to promote his book Russian Winters which lifts the lid on a career that took him from Dynamo Kiev to Govan via bigmoney moves to Old Trafford, Everton and Fiorentina.
A more portly figure than the winger who terrorised full-backs, the 48-year-old was at Ibrox to take in a 2-0 defeat to Hamilton.
But only after Kanchelskis, who won two league titles and three Scottish Cups with Gers, got plenty off his chest at a city centre hotel.
As he stirred two sugars into his tea there was nothing sweet about his memories of playing under Advocaat, his “double- faced” replacement Alex McLeish and the Dutch influence within the Gers squad after his £5.5million move.
He said: “I had a great time at Rangers and it is a great club. I know they have had financial problems but they have good fans and I remember my great time here.
“I had a lot of great moments. We did the Treble in our first season. In my first season with a new team and new players it was wonderful to win a treble.
“It was at the top level and there was big money. When Advocaat is working at the club, after that there are problems. Every club goes down. They’ve spent a lot money – it’s crazy.
“There were too many Dutch players in the squad and playing in the team. That can create problems in the dressing room and outside. The atmosphere in my first two years was great. In the third season there were problems as there were more Dutch players.
“They spoke always in their language, not English. There were